12WBT +85

Well.  The last day of the 12 weeks.  Reality is hitting fast & hard!


Ugh.  Had to whip up our own menu for the week AND shopping list.  I've forgotten how time consuming that is - lol.  Luckily, we have 12 weeks of menus and recipes to go through (to find meals for only five days, so not so bad).


After 85 days of the program and 28 days of pre-season, it's definitely all over red rover.  I am hopeful that I can take what I've gleaned from the last few months and survive the next couple (before Round 1, 2011 kicks off).  I'm adamant that I'm going to do good and start the same, if not lower, than I am now at the end of this round.  Fingers crossed.


Made the ultimate decision to go for a 5km run every second morning once we get back from Africa.  Am actually looking forward to this - not so much the dragging myself out of bed at 5am, but the running.  It'll be good prep for the fun runs being lined up for the year :)


On that note, I shall sign off from this blog.  To those of you who have read it, thanks - hope you don't feel you've lost too much of your lives :)  I'll be back in 2011 with the next instalment: http://droppingmorekgs.blogspot.com/ so feel free to pop on by and say g'day.


Good luck with your own journeys :)


Phil (aka evilp, EP)

12WBT +84

Waking up at 5.50am was not easy today.  Going to see PT at 6.30am was also not easy.  PT was late so I had to do the warm up all on my lonesome (poor Wifey has my cold and was staying in bed, poor thing).  When PT arrived we were straight into things...  An hour later and another 1000+ calories down and I was walking back home.  


Pottered around and then walked up to Crows Nest for a brekkie and drug run.  I figured I deserved a croissant for brekkie...and Wifey needed more drugs - lol.


Went into town to do the 12WBT end of season workout in the Domain.  What a fantastic day weather wise.  Sydney turned on the sunshine...forgetting that us lilly-white people turn a very red shade of pink very quickly - even with sunscreen.  I had a bit of colour on my face & arms (not legs though - they only seem to burn when I fall asleep in the hammock).  I have to say, I was pleased to see a few others with the signs of the sun on them at the party ;)


The workout was great.  I think I even did better again on my 1km run - wahoo!  (Not 100% sure as the time I was given was for the group that started before mine.)  The three different stations down on the domain were good, too.  Although, I feel that I was a bit of a cheat being in the beginners group (waaaaaaaaaay too easy, even for me).  Out of the three stations, I loved the "boot camp" one the best, even if it didn't help my blistered feet (but that wasn't their fault, I was the one wearing wet sneakers - due to the early am PT session).  Will I ever learn?  haha


Went into the Martin Place Bar for the end of season party.  Was a good night.  Rather than just celebrating those who had great numbers, it was a lot more inclusive.  I even got up on the stage (because of this blog).  Got a DVD out of the evening as well (shame it's an XBox game - if it was Wii, we could've used it.  Ahh well, re-gifting perhaps.


Wifey and I were a bit too knackered to head on to the Ivy Bar afterwards, which was a shame.  But, boy, did I enjoy climbing into bed looking forward to what could be my second night's solid sleep in over a week...fingers crossed.

12WBT +83

Someone's starting to get excited...  This is a very exciting seven days for a certain EP.  Why?  Well, we only have a week before we fly out to Africa for a month of - God, I don't know if I'm really prepared for slumming it in tents for a month, but the activities make up for it :)


So, tomorrow we have our last Saturday PT session for the year.  PT suggested either 6.30am in the park or 7.30am in the gym.  I wanted an extra bit of a lie in but it was forsaking that or going to the gym.  Guess which I chose.  Still can't get over that barrier - that's what next Friday is for...


Then, after that session, I get to chillax for a bit before heading into town to do the 12WBT session in the Domain.  Scary, but bring it on!  After that, a bit more chillaxing, then the beautification process for the big party - yeah, baby.


Sunday is our last day of nothing before we leave...so we're packing it with the domestics, getting stuff ready for packing, and my sister and her kids are coming over.  Not much chillaxing then :(


We have our work Christmas party this week, too.  Not to mention all the work I have to get done before I head away.  Joy of joys...


Anyhow, today.  A quiet day.  Productive at work.  Brekkie (because someone forgot to do it last night) was just some yoghurt.  Lunch was the left over Chinese dumplings from last night. They're good.  They're really good.  Dinner was the pizza (swapping Friday and Sunday around - gotta mix it all up, eh?).

12WBT +82

After a bit of a rough start to the day (had a wicked good coughing fit that almost ended with me bringing my lungs up), it ended up being an OK day.  Didn't really do much in terms of work - cleared the decks a bit, but not really getting ahead.


I am feeling a bit guilty for not having done much exercise of late - rest assured, I'm not slipping into habits of old.  Being sick and running out of time before we head away is now taking over my life.  When we get back I'll be back into the exercise routine :)  Looking forward to it, too.


Brekkie: cereal, strawberries & yoghurt.
Lunch: adapted Thai beef salad (another favourite lunch).


Why is it at this time of year, domestic chores seem to chew through any spare time one may have?  There never seems to be enough time.  Tonight's time chewer was prepping the chinese dumplings for dinner.  Granted, this isn't a bad thing as I highly approved of them.  I did a bloody good job, even if I do say so myself - haha.


Between prepping and cooking, I did go for a stroll up to the gym...only to meet Wifey though.  I said to PT (can't remember if I put this in Saturday's entry or not, so excuse any repetition) that as we can't do next Saturday's session, I would be prepared to go to the gym for a session next Friday (since neither Wifey or I have work that day...we fly out that evening).  That is my compromise - I said, when I was 96kgs, that I would go when I was 85kgs.  I'm just over 90 now so I think it's only fair, huh?  Also, it'll be a chance for me to see whether or not the gym is for me...  Scary!

12WBT +81

Back to work today.  Felt kinda odd going in but once I was there, looking at the mountain sprouting from my in-tray and reeling from the overflowing inbox, I felt halfway normal again - haha.


It was a good day.  The weigh in produced another loss.  All up so far, 14.4kgs.  My goal was 8!!!  Yeah, baby!  13.7% body weight loss.  Life is good and I only have the 12WBT to thank (oh, and Wifey :) ).


I ended up having the couscous and apple (meant to have on Sunday morning) for brekkie.  It was the world's largest serving of it...ever.  I started at 7.30, when I got into the office, and finished at 11.30 - in time for lunch.  Okay, so it wasn't a large serving (you already guessed that though, huh?), it was just a very interrupted morning.


We were meant to have our team lunch but, after me being off for two days, our manager decided he wanted to be sick too - slacker.  Ended up not having the team lunch (postponed until next week) and only munched on a packet of roasted chickpeas.  Y'know what?  I wasn't even hungry!  Lasted until dinner.  Dinner was the beef in creamy mushroom sauce.  We added a corn cob to it, too.  This is a top notch dish.  We both enjoy it.


After work, met up with Wifey to buy some new clothes for me.  Wow!  I now fit into size 36 trousers (much better than the 38/40 I was in) and large t-shirts & shirts (XL was getting a bit snug even).  Life is good.  Not buying too much though as I still want to lose more weight.


Even though I though I was on the mend, I fear I'm still not quite 100%.  Have to improve by the weekend.  Am so not missing the group workout or the party.  Ironically, I missed the group workout at the start of the program (was it the end of Round 2's one?) because I was crook then too.  Hmm.  I'm a poorly chappy ;)

12WBT +80

After opting to sleep in the spare room (to save Wifey another sleepless night), I woke this morning feeling a bit better, but not enough so that I felt I should go to work.  In fact, I felt that I should go and see a doctor (which for me is the absolute of last resorts).  Yay!  I have sinusitis.  I bet you're jealous of that.  Have a couple of boxes of antibiotics to take for the next few weeks (including when we're over in Africa, bugger it all).  On the plus side, I do feel better.


Being sick is helping me lose weight, too.  Had a quick sneak on the scales and was bloody surprised - won't say what it was, but needless to say, if it's even 500g more than what it was, I'm going to be the happiest camper around for a while to come :)


I'm pleased, also, to report the safe return of my appetite.  Around 3pm I decided I was peckish.  Luckily I had prepared lunches for Wifey and I last night (chicken & grape salad - yum).  Was very contented with that.  Bring on dinner, I say - lol.  Dinner was nice - we adapted it to beef (for those of us who are a tad fussy).


Ironically, it was around the time my appetite came back that my head stopped aching as much...and my general demeanour changed.  I did the ironing (worst chore in the world, ever), threw a couple of loads of laundry on, and did some weeding of the garden (if you saw the size of our garden you'd laugh at me even saying that - haha).  The downside is that Wifey sent me a text saying she's got a sore throat.  It was bound to happen (her being a teacher and it being the end of the school year and all), but I can't help but feel just a little bit guilty (just a little, mind).


Did the 1km time trial and came in 3 seconds better than the last time.  Either it's still the effects of the cold, or maybe I've just peaked for the time being?  Dunno, but overall it's over 1 minute better than the first one.  Who'd have ever have thunked it?

12WBT +79

Ugh.  When I woke up this morning it was decided that I would not be going to work.  I had a terrible night's sleep, which is most unusual for me.  I was tossing and turning, coughing, hot and cold.  I guess I had a fever that decided to break.  I would wake up for a few minutes and then fall asleep again.  Around 10.30am I couldn't stay in bed any longer (though perhaps I should've).  I got up and had a shower - this usually makes me feel more alive.  Not today though.


Pretty much spent the day sleeping off and on until mid-arvo.  What a waste of being at home on a sunny day :(


What is annoying me about this is I need to do the fitness test for the program by Wednesday.  If'n I'm not healthy by then, my results are going to be shite and I don't really want that.  


So.  Had a crack at the fitness test (except the run - save that for tomorrow when I'm back to normal).  I did better at everything - except the sit ups, which I equalled (can't get to #4 to save myself!).  Press ups were only marginally better, but given I cheated and put my knee down for a couple of seconds to let the throbbing in the head pass, I's a happy camper.  Here's hoping I can knock off at least 20 seconds from the 1km run.  I might be kidding myself here, but we'll see.


Had no appetite and only picked at dinner (read: couple of slices of zucchini and a couple of cherry tomatoes).  I did, however manage the trifle we had for dessert.  I think because my teeth are sore, chewing or hot food is not appealing.  Trifle did the trick :)  Aside from that, all I had was a slice of cold lamb.  This is so not me :(

12WBT +78

Today's entry is very much a 'woe is me' one.


My cold decided to hit with full force.  Granted, it was okay-ish in the morning (still a bit sore around the sinuses).  I got up and made our breakfast - omelettes (but this was because I hadn't made the yoghurt the night before like I'd meant to).  After cleaning up the mess, we headed over to Coogee to a friend's birthday celebrations.  It was here that the full effect of my cold hit.  All of a sudden the pain was unbearable.  My appetite vanished.  The coughing started (which irritated my already sore throat).  We left around 3.30pm and went to get the groceries for the week.  This was very painful.  When I get sick, I get more irritable with people.  Supermarkets are not the best places when irritable ;)


Got home and ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour.  This was pretty much the pattern for the rest of the evening - wake, sleep, wake, sleep...oh, not to mention the odd coughing fit in there.  Bah!  At least I'm getting sick now and not when we're away on holiday - that would be truly pants!

12WBT +77

Don't ever let anyone tell you that going to a PT session with a head cold is a good idea.  It's not.  Woke up this morning to a row of aching teeth (obviously due to blocked sinuses).  Certain movements aggravate the pain - most of the activities that PT set forth fell into this category.  At the end, I had to say no to the boxing.  I find that, at the best of times, my hands get too hot in the gloves and this sends my core temp through the roof and I start feeling very, very sick.  Today, my head was pounding and I felt too hot so I was the boxing bag for Wifey instead.  Methinks she enjoyed it more than she should've - lol.  Anyhow, with the walk there and home, as well as the session, I burnt off another 1050 calories.  Go me (except that this has been about my limit for the last week - oopsies).


While walking home from the PT session, Wifey and I were talking about the program and wondering how many people would go hell for leather in the last week, just to shed as much as they can before the wind up party.  I don't think there'll be too many, but there'll most likely be a few.  To be fair, a few weeks ago I would've considered it too.  Now, however, I don't think it's the way to go.  I want to do something sustainable and busting a gut in the last leg isn't going to give me what I want - not in the long-term, anyhow.


Once we got home, it was a matter of quick showers and then out to a few shops - we were having a friend over for dinner and had to get a few things.  I don't think we've ever moved so quickly!  Makes a huge difference when you know exactly what you want and how much time you don't have ;)


In the end, our diets went out the window.  We had a couple of small croissants for brunch and then roast lamb with veggies for dinner.  There was also a bit of picking at sweets in there too.  Oops.  I don't think we were too bad though, which is good.  I know that a few months back, I would've been a lot worse.


Even though it was a day full of bad food and laziness, it was a relaxing day :)

12WBT +76

One more week of the 12WBT.  I'm not surprised I've seen the program to the end.  I am, however, surprised that I've got an entry for each and every single day of it!  Holy crap!  I'm impressed with myself.  Granted, I haven't quite posted on time each day - but there is an accurate account of my journey.  They say that a journey starts with one step - I've got 100+ steps so far.  If things start going backwards, I'm going to have to return to this blog.  I've decided that this blog will end on the Monday after week 12 (so Monday week, I guess).  That will cover the very last day.  Am so keen for the first round of 2011 that I've even got the blog set up for that.  Gee, that would be eight months of my ramblings on the interwebby thing ;)


Today was an odd day.  Food wise, just the normal day at the office (cereal, berries & yoghurt for breakfast; wrap with swiss cheese, cottage cheese, tomato and lettuce; a packet of roasted chickpeas for a snack (thanks SO much, Mish, for pointing these out :) ); and dinner comprised of lamb cutlets and veggies - a la Wifey).  Work, however, was nuts.  Not nuts in a bad way - just that everyone was so...crazy.  I had my excuse.  I still felt a bit under the weather and was still taking my Cold & Flu tablets.  Not sure about everyone else.


Oh, that reminds me.  One of the directors commented on my weight loss and I filled her in on the 12WBT - might have another convert on our hands.  She asked me to send her the link and I sent her a whole screed of info - including my thoughts on the program.  Do we get commission - lol.


Wifey went off to the gym and, once again, I wandered up to meet her.  How sad is this?  We spent our Friday night cleaning as we're hosting friends for an early Christmas dinner (and a bit of a games night) tomorrow (red flag #1 for the weekend) - we still have our joint PT session in the morning, which I'm not looking forward to quite as much, especially if my head still feels a bit 'bleugh'.  On Sunday, one of Wifey's friends is turning 40 so we're off over to Coogee for that (red flag #2).  Should be a bit of good craic methinks.

12WBT +75

They say breaking up is hard to do.  Pfft.  Whatever!  Waking up was much more difficult today.  My eyes were very heavy and my body.  Let's just say I felt like a train had ploughed into me.  I woke up with death sitting on my chest - or what sure felt like it.  The thought of getting up and going to work just didn't appeal.  Y'know what though?  I did it anyway (if'n I'm going to get sick, others can share the joys too).


Brekkie, due to some reason I can't recall from last night, comprised of a slice of banana bread.  This was followed by a bread roll (lettuce, swiss cheese and tomato) for lunch.  Luckily it was a day where I felt anything but hungry.  Dinner was not very much (as I was home alone...again...and simply couldn't be arsed - and regretted it later).  


Following a stop at the optometrists (contacts again, baby!) and a quick detour for a Chrissy pressy, I got home around 6.30pm.  Having decided I wasn't up for dinner I thought I'd get brekkie ready for tomorrow.  Bugger.  Guess who remembered tomorrow's lunch was leftovers...but didn't think that to have leftovers meant cooking in the first place.  D'oh!


Prepped tomorrow's brekkie and lunch then, as sad as it sounds, was in bed - dead to the world - before 8.30pm.  The Cold & Flu drugs helped I think :)


Ugh - another day with no exercise.  I must get back in the habit - there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day at the moment though.  Hanging out for the hols...

12WBT +74

White rabbits.


Pinch and a punch.


Santa's on his way, y'hear!


WOW!  Today is officially the first of December!  (Don't ask why I added officially - I think I was going to say "officially the start of the Christmas season" and then changed my mind.  I don't know what I do, let alone why I do it.)  Can you believe it?  Jolly ol' St Nick will be jetting his way around the world in 24 more sleeps.  I'm not complaining now - we have St Nick come on 25/12 and Ded Moroz (Дед Мороз) on 7/1.  Ahh, the joys of marrying into a multicultural (or should that be multi denominational?) family.


Today also signals 10 more days until the end of program workout and party.  That should be a blast.  I'm going to be fair knackered though - we'll still have our workout with PT in the morning, then I'll go to this one.  My poor body won't know what's hit it...


Speaking of not knowing what's hit - my relationship with our bathroom scales is well on the up. I jumped on today and they didn't groan and tell me to go easy.  Instead they told me I've miraculously lost another 1.1kgs.  I'm now at 93.1kgs.  Still fat, but much better than the 105.2kgs I started on.  Fingers crossed for a drop of 3.2kgs over the next two weeks (I'm counting the Weds after the program officially ends as we're off on hols just after).


Before I get into the mundane daily drivel, I do have to express my utter amazement at losing weight this week.  Since the last weigh-in, I've done one session with the DVD (still love it though) and the PT session.  Nothing else.  I've also eaten a huge plate of take-out Chinese and survived a weekend of Wifey's mum's scrummy meals.  All this and I've still lost weight!?  I'm not letting it go to my head - I know that if I keep up like that then I'm going to put it all back on, but I'm still surprised.  I feel that it's a sign that Wifey and I are on the right track in terms of our eating habits (as since about week 7, we started modifying the meals more and more).  Our portion size has reduced, which was one main thing we knew we had to work on.  *smiling away*


Brekkie today was back to the cereal and fruit.  This is such good people.  Am happy inside with brekkie in me (start getting grumpy if I don't get it - lol).


Lunch was a wrap - lettuce leaves, boiled egg, parmesan, onion, sprouts and a wee bit of dijon mustard.  Mmm.  Very good.  Only thing I forgot about was the cracked pepper.  Oh well, if that's all, I'm doing well ;)


Dinner - well, that ended up being a bit of a fizzer.  Wifey had a school function on and I reverted back to my old bad habits of not being arsed.  As it transpired, she was peckish when she got home so made a toasted sandwich.  While she was doing that, I was doing arts & crafts in the lounge (making Christmas decorations for her office - how do I get into these things?!? ;-) ).


Noticed that my throat was a wee bit sore - guess I've been doing a lot of talking at work the last few days.  Surely that has to take its toll - haha.

12WBT +73

Y'know when I'm getting excited about something - I get in and book things early.  Having had made our minds up to do the Sun Run (Dee Why to Manly) in February, I snuck online at lunchtime and registered.  Now here's hoping it works in the next round of the 12WBT (as the others have for the mini-challenges etc) :)  It's only a 7km course, but a good way to start the year (would've loved to have done the Resolution Run in January to really get it started, but 'twas not to be).


Today was accelerator day again.  Had a boiled egg for brekkie - as with last week, don't have the time or inclination to make an omelette mid-week.  Lunch was a bit more filling - chicken salad (the one that we were supposed to have yesterday but I swapped and modified it for Mr Fussy here).


Again, another day where I felt I was chasing my tail (figuratively, I don't actually have a tail).  I had all these blog entries to fix up from the last few days.  I am a shocker at times - nearly a week behind on the blogs.  I had the bullet points to work from and my memory to use...  Never rely on your memory.  As you get older, it starts getting worse - lol.  Took a lot longer than I thought to do ('cos of the memory) but got them done.  Marathon effort.


Watched Mish's video (this week's one).  Well, kinda watched part of it - the rest I relied on osmosis (shh, I had an early evening grandpa nap, complete with notebook on chest).  Am looking forward to the live one this week.  Still smarting about missing the last one :(


Helped Wifey cook dinner.  We had pork and steamed veggies.  We even treated ourselves to a small dessert (just some yoghurt - Black Swan have two new (?) flavours - vanilla bean and blueberry.  YUM - in moderation).  


Reflecting on this last week: can't tell if I've put weight on or lost it.  Part of me feels a loss, part of me feels a gain, and another part (which seems to have come into the race out of nowhere) is telling me I've neither gained or lost.  Que sera sera, I guess.  The scales of truth will reveal all tomorrow.